The present invention relates to a communications system, an intermediate element for a communications system, and a method for producing a communications link.
For modern communications networks, in particular, there have been efforts to minimize the size of the individual components of the network, particularly the end devices, and, at the same time, to make possible a communication that is as flexible as possible.
This results in the problem of entering data and information into an end device of a communications network. For cell phones, for example, the space for a keyboard is limited on account of the increasingly smaller size. At the same time, however, the functionality of such end devices is being increasingly enhanced. Thus, some cell phones have in the meantime come to include functions such as an address book, a pocket calculator, a calendar, e-mail functions, word processing, and the like.
In order to take these different developments into consideration, accessory parts that can be connected to the end devices of a communications network and serve, in particular, for the input of information have been developed.
In the course of this development, keyboards have been developed, for example, that can be transported separately from a cell phone and, when needed, can be connected to the latter. Such keyboards, for example, may have a folding mechanism that makes it possible to keep them small in size for transport. These keyboards are connected to the cell phone, as a rule, via a cable connection, the cable being inserted in plug sockets provided for this purpose on the keyboard and on the cell phone.
The drawback of such peripheral devices lies in the fact that, on the one hand, they are relatively expensive in terms of production costs and, on the other hand, they must be designed specially for connection with the end device; for example, they must have a specific plug socket. In this respect, the use of these peripheral devices is limited, as a rule, to a specific end device or to a specific model of an end device.
Furthermore, such peripheral devices are restricted to one type of input—for example, input via a keyboard, which is assigned thereto. If data are input via a different type of input, for example, by means of optical recording, the user must use another peripheral device, which, then, also must enable appropriate connection devices to connect with the end device.